Trapped Again
by StormDragon318
Summary: After Ascension Apocalypse is defeated, but the four horsemen are having difficulty recovering from their ordeal. Meanwhile, Gambit joins the XMen. Please RR, but it's my first fanfic so go easy!


Storm sat alone in the attic, crying. Usually when she came up here and tended to her plants, it took her mind off things, helped her to calm down. And she needed to calm down. Overhead she it begin to rain as a result of her outpouring of emotion. She head the patter of the raindrops as they hit the attic window, but though she was usually the most level-headed of all the X-Men, she was, for the first time after many years, unable to control her emotions or her powers. She cried for the enslavement which Apocalypse had put her in, as well as her dearest friend and mentor, Charles. This reminded her of the last time someone had forced her to do their bidding against her will, when she had only been a child on the streets of Cairo. Sadness was replaced by anger, which built up inside her, and she felt her rage translate into the storm her emotions were creating outside as lightning crashed down into the grounds of the Xavier Institute and furious thunder rumbled through the sky. She knew she needed to stop, needed to calm down, but she found that she couldn't, the rage and grief which swept through her mind could not be calmed. Tears streamed down her face from her bright eyes, now glowing a hot white. She grabbed her head in her hands, fingers pulling at her long, white hair as she tried with all her might to calm the storm, but to no avail. Her emotion was out of control and so was the storm outside.

Scott, Evan and Logan burst through the door to her attic room and ran towards her. Logan gathered her in his arms and spoke firmly to her, "Ororo, you need to calm down. You need to regain control, I know it's hard for you but you can't lose control. Where's the strong woman I know who never lets her emotion get the better of her?"

Spyke grabbed her smooth hand in his own, and was forced to shout at her to be heard over the noise of the storm outside.  
"Auntie O, c'mon, you can do this. You're the one who taught me how to focus, how to stay cool. Don't lose focus, auntie, don't lose control…"

Scott was speaking on his communicator. "Professor, she's in the attic. We're doing the best we can but she can't calm down."  
"I'm on my way Scott," Charles Xavier's voice came back to him.  
Suddenly a stroke of lightning burst through the sky light, shattering glass everywhere. Evan reacted quickly, crouching in front of his aunt to protect her from the flying glass with his wooden torso, but a shard still escaped him and landed in Ororo's leg. She cried out in pain and she began to rise up, out of Logan's arms, away from Scott and Evan, and up into the air, carried by the strong winds which she was unintentionally creating.  
"C'mon, against the wall!" yelled Logan, pulling Cyclops and Spyke back so they wouldn't be caught up in the gusts of wind which were now swirling round Storm. They shielded their arms against the wind, as the Professor entered the room, his fingers at his temples, brow narrowed deep in concentration as he probed Storm's mind. Slowly, Storm began to calm down, until with a final scream the storm outside stopped and she lost conciousness, falling to the floor. Logan quickly sprinted over to catch her just before she hit the ground. Storm's eyes opened dazedly again, and saw Wolverine's face before she fainted once again.

---------

A small black haired woman with bronze skin sat in the departure lounge of Cairo airport. She was silent but her mind was working furiously. Her two children had just left her. 'I loved them', she thought. 'How could they just turn their backs on me without giving me a chance to explain myself?'

_But you didn't love them, _a harsher voice told her. _You never gave Kurt the time of day and you only used Rogue for her powers._

But I only wanted to explain…

_Explain what? Explain why you were such a terrible mother? Why you let Magneto experiment on Kurt? Why you let him be adopted by another family and never returned to see him? Why you lied to Rogue about the X-Men and tricked her into having her mind enslaved by Mesmero? Why you were prevented from ever being a proper mother because of your own selfishness?_

Tears began to well up in her eyes. As the first trickled down her cheek, an old lady sitting opposite her took notice. Smiling kindly, she offered her a handkerchief, saying something in a foreign language. Mystique looked at her.

"Please," said the lady in a heavily accented voice. "You take."

"Thank you," said Mystique as she took the handkerchief and dabbed her eyes with it. It was odd how startled she had been at an odd display of human generosity.  
_But then, _that small voice inside her head began again, _when have you shown kindness to anyone?_

As the thoughts of her children began to come flooding back Mystique tried to gain a grip on herself. Pushing all thoughts of her past mistakes, Rogue, Kurt and how Mesmero and Apocalypse had used her to the back of her mind, she set her jaw and began thinking of the matter that was most important at present: how to get back to America. She would have to disguise herself somehow, either as someone like an air stewardess so she could get onto a plane, or a very small animal so she could sneak on. Stealing a plane from some airfield would be more difficult, and she wanted to get out of Egypt as soon as possible. Standing up, she began walking around the airport, searching for somewhere secluded where she could transform away from prying eyes.


End file.
